Zen : Your Way

Notes

Start Here lesson 2: Doing a Loop.

Transcript

0.3 · Doing a Loop — 3 min

Hello. I am Francis. I made this app. Before we sit, I want to tell you something about how this is meant to be used.

[Pause 3s]

Zen is just sitting. No mantra, no goal. The instructions are terse, and that terseness can be brutal when you are starting out. It took me more than ten thousand minutes on meditation apps before just sitting finally clicked. Ten thousand minutes of sampling, of trial and error, of showing up anyway.

[Pause 3s]

So take the detour. Explore. Reap some of the benefits early. That is not cheating, and it is not a lesser practice. It is how most of us get there.

[Pause 4s]

Here is one small thing I use. I would barely call it meditation. It is closer to breathwork. Meditation-adjacent. I call it doing a loop.

[Pause 3s]

Let your thumb rest against your index finger. On the next breath in, touch them together, a small circle rather than a tap. On the next breath, move to your middle finger. Then your ring finger. Then your little finger. Then turn around and come back the same way.

[Pause 4s]

There is no counting. No words. The position of your thumb holds your place, so there is nothing left for you to say to yourself.

[Pause 3s]

Try it now. One touch for each breath. Back and forth.

[Silence 45s]

If you lose your place, you will feel it in your hand before you think it. That is the whole point. Simply begin again wherever you are.

[Silence 30s]

You do not need a cushion for this. You do not need posture, or a quiet room, or a free half hour. I use it standing in queues, on calls, walking. I live with PTSD, and in rooms that are hard for me to be in, this has made a real difference.

[Pause 3s]

I should be clear about what this is. It is two fingers and a breath. It is not therapy, and I am not your therapist, which is lucky for both of us. If you are carrying something heavy, please find someone qualified to carry it with you. This is only a small thing that helps me.

[Pause 3s]

Let your hand rest. Take one ordinary breath.

[Pause 4s]

That is all. When you are ready, open your eyes.